


Stop Worrying

by Kiki_G_Marie



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: I have no idea what I'm bloody doing, M/M, and by short I mean I've been sitting on the project for about four months, taking a short break from a bigger project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 07:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1129727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiki_G_Marie/pseuds/Kiki_G_Marie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“There it was. The elephant in the fucking room.” Joel has to answer for his constant dodging of a certain subject.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Worrying

_This was a bad, BAD idea…_ Joel Heyman thought to himself as he took another sip of his sadly non-alcoholic drink. Several Rooster Teeth employees had decided tonight was a great night to collectively invade this nearby bar, and somehow half of them had managed to already be completely wasted after only being here an hour. As usual, Gavin and Michael were getting incredibly rowdy, and Geoff, trying to act the responsible adult but really even more sloshed than the two of them combined, was attempting to exercise his boss-ly authority and get them to calm down. Mainly by tackling Gavin, which seemed counterproductive and liable to get them kicked out of the damn place. At this rate, Burnie was probably already preparing those random-ass bags of popcorn. And worst of all, Joel wasn’t allowed to get drunk because _he_ drew one of the short straws and had to drive some of these imbeciles home.

“This is a complete nightmare.” Joel muttered glumly, sighing and putting his drink down, leaning back slightly and stretching against the counter.

“No kidding.” An equally glum voice agreed, and Joel jumped. How long had someone been sitting in that stool? He turned to face his partner in pessimism to find one Ray Narvaez nursing a soda on the counter beside him. Joel must be spacing out more than he thought he was if he hadn’t noticed him sitting _right there._

“Ha, how’d they manage to drag _you_ out here, kid?” Joel grinned, spinning around in his stool so he could lean on the counter and face Ray.

“What can I say, man, Michael and Gavin can be really fucking annoying about getting me to participate. It’s cute, really, in a dumbass sort of way.” Ray shrugged, and Joel laughed. He couldn’t say he wasn’t pleased with the kid’s company. He and Ray had been getting along well as of late, and it gave him someone to talk to who wasn’t drunk off their ass and equally as stupid.

“Well, sorry you’re sober and dealing with this crowd at the same time.” Joel said, lightly tapping the rim of his own soda. “Looks like we’re in the same boat.”

“Yeah, except _you’re_ driving people home. I think I got the better end of the deal here, especially since I don’t drink in the first place and I’m not missing out.” Ray smiled slightly, before it turned into something a bit more sly and he raised an eyebrow at Joel. “That reminds me, still planning on ‘fixing me’, Donut?” the younger man gave him a crooked grin, and leaned a little closer. Joel swallowed, but managed to look unimpressed as he took another drink of his soda. That was another thing that he and Ray had been doing a lot lately, this weird almost-joking, almost-flirting banter deal. It made Joel antsy, to be honest, and not just because Ray was better at it than he was.

“I’ve told you before, I’m _Caboose_. That oversight is the first thing we’ve got to fix, before any alcohol gets involved.” He grumbled, feigning annoyance. Ray snorted and placed his chin on his palm, cocking his head at Joel.

“Donut, Caboose, whatever, same thing.” He said flatly. Joel opened his mouth to protest when Ray’s hand shot out and covered it for a moment, leveling him with a playful grin. “You are wound up _way_ too tight, dude. You need to stop freaking out about every little thing.” Joel rolled his eyes and pried Ray’s hand away, pressing two fingers to the younger man’s forehead and lightly shoving him back from his ever-closer proximity to Joel’s face.

“And _you’ve_ got to stop thinking that being cute gives you a free pass to be an obnoxious prick. You’re pretty cheery for someone who isn’t drunk.” Joel growled, narrowing his eyes, but Ray just smiled serenely and raised his eyebrows.

“So you _do_ think I’m cute, J-Roll?” God, the kid was almost purring, and this conversation was quickly getting out of Joel’s control. The older man gave Ray a stern glare.

“You’re really pushing it, kid.”

“Pushing what, exactly? We’ve been doing… _this_ …” Ray noncommittally waved his hand in the air. “For months, and you haven’t made a single fucking move to close the gap. Mind telling me why?” There it was. The elephant in the fucking room. Ray seemed pretty annoyed, actually, which was odd considering that it was Joel who’d been feeling frustrated with their situation. Apparently it was a two-way street, and Ray was actually _serious_ about this, which made things… way more complicated, and infinitely worse.

“… W-We’re not talking about this. Not here.” Joel shifted uncomfortably in his barstool, almost making a move to get up when Ray’s hand clamped down on his shoulder and forced him back down.

“Like hell we’re not. Every time I bring this up you say ‘not now’ or ‘not here’ or just ignore it. You’ve got to talk to me, man.” Ray’s hand lingered on Joel’s bicep and Joel squirmed slightly, trying not to focus on it.

“Th-that’s… Ray,” Joel sucked in a deep breath and met the younger man’s insistent stare. “I’m almost twice your age.”

“Oh, for… Jesus _Christ_ , Joel…” Ray groaned and rolled his eyes, shoving at Joel’s shoulder in the process.

“I’m being serious! You’re… you’re young, okay, and you deserve to have the chance to… I don’t know, play the field a bit, have fun with people more your age, or _something_. Don’t settle for the creepy older guy with a crush on you at work, okay?” Joel stammered through his explanation, his words beginning to run into each other in his nervousness. For the first time tonight he was actually glad he wasn’t drunk, or this would have come out much, much less coherently.

“Joel…” Ray sighed, shaking his head and reaching a hand forward. Joel flinched away from it slightly and continued babbling.

“You’re going to say something like ‘you’re being ridiculous’, I know it, but hear me out, okay? I’m not in my twenties, you know, I don’t do that thing, the-the whole one-time-only thing anymore. And I can’t drag you down with me or force you into anything when you should be…”

“ _Joel_ …” Ray was tapping his fingers against the counter impatiently, the corner of his mouth turning into a slight grimace. Joel continued, not even looking Ray in the eye, trying to delay the inevitable agreement and rejection that he knew were coming any second now.

“A-And I like you a lot, Ray, alright? I mean you knew that, or we wouldn’t be here, but I…”

“Joel, _Je_ sus, will you shut up for one fucking second?!” Ray snapped, grabbing a fistful of Joel’s shirt and pulling him forward abruptly, roughly crashing their lips together.

Oh.

Well.

Joel hadn’t really been expecting that reaction at _all_.

Not that he was complaining at all because _GOD_ it felt good to finally do this. He didn’t know when he’d grabbed the back of Ray’s neck and pulled him closer for a deeper kiss but he _definitely_ was not regretting the action, and neither was Ray if that noise he just made was any indication.

When they finally pulled apart Joel was gaping stupidly at Ray, too stunned to say a word. Ray, for his part, was looking thoroughly flushed, and licked his lips slowly. Joel’s eyes followed the movement.

“You think I hadn’t thought about all this ahead of time, J-Roll?” Ray laughed breathlessly, shaking Joel slightly by the grip he still had on the older man’s shirt. “I’m not an idiot you know, I’ve thought this through. I like you a lot too. And I also wouldn’t mind if we did _that_ again.”

“B-But yoummmfff…” Joel began to stutter, his senses somewhat returning only to fly away again when Ray dragged him in for another long kiss. For some reason Joel’s thoughts could only center on the fact that Ray tasted like cinnamon and Coke and oh my _GOD_ he’s really fucking good at this…

“Joel.” Ray pulled away, and Joel unconsciously leaned forward, chasing the kiss until he realized what he was doing and stopped mid-movement.

“… Yeah?”

“Stop. Worrying.” Ray put his hands on Joel’s cheeks and grinned. “Can you do that for me?”

“I… okay. I think I can do that.” Joel nodded slowly as Ray pulled him in again, this time for a shorter, gentler kiss.

“Good,” Ray quipped, grinning. “Because if I had to spend one more night in sexual frustration because _you_ were worrying for no reason, I was going to jump you at work and shove you into a damned closet.” Joel laughed at that, pressing his forehead against Ray’s and interlocking their fingers under the bar counter.

“You _could_ still do that, if you want.” He murmured jokingly. Ray paused for a moment, considering, with a sly smile on his face.

“Tempting. Get me to your place later tonight first, and I’ll see what I can do.”


End file.
